Bletchley Park

[tree_and_leaf]

Today I had a remarkably interesting day out, visiting the museum at Bletchley Park, the site at which the German Enigma (etc) codes were broken in WWII, and where the world's first computer was developed in 1944, and the site of a remarkable intellectual endeavour in breaking what appeared to be unbreakable ciphers, without which who knows what might have happened? At any rate, a much longer war. Despite the destruction of the Bletchley teams' data, ENIAC, the first American computer, was designed by people who knew the Bletchley work - and I must admit that I do wonder if the documents, taken off in sacks to an industrial incinerator (and not, as in the documentary "Station X", burnt on the lawn) really were burnt, or if they were merely seen to be burnt...

Anyway: a trip to the museum - which in our case was suggested by rustica, and participated in by - among other worthies nineveh_uk, parrot_knight, and crazy_scot is fascintating, both in terms of the sheer geeky detail (though I must admit that there was a lot I didn't understand), and rather moving in the glimpses one catches of the vanished lives of men and women who worked extraordinarily hard, on an extremely difficult problem, for the reward of one week's notice at the end of the war, a thank you, and an injunction never to talk about it. And, of course, the satisfaction of having done one's duty and a good job. But it must have been extremely hard - so much of the work was sheer drudgery, whether having to spend six hours taking down encrypted Morse, or replugging the bombes, or working out the predictable bits of encrypted messages. And yet some of the most interesting details on display related to how people made their lives more enjoyable - the performance of Dido and Aeneas, or revues staged in aid of the Merchant Navy Comfort Fund, Scottish country dance classes, tea with the Yanks from the nearby airbase, even the anecdote about poor brilliant Alan Turing cycling to work wearing his gas mask in order to fight off his hay-fever... The whole thing leaves one not just with a sense of the magnitude of their achievements (which are pretty astonishing) but of something of the texture of wartime life, and a period at once remote, and more like today than we think (I never realised that they had swivel chairs in the forties, to take a really stupid example).



The lake, with 'the mansion' behind it.


Statue of Alan Turing


Back of a reconstructed bombe, showing the wiring.


Mug, belonging to WREN codebreaker.


Part of the reconstructed Colossus II, which though it runs on radio valves and punched paper could parallel process, and thus is significantly more awesome than many later computers....


Another bit of Colossus II. It's surprisingly noisy, and reminded me a bit of Hex.


Hut 8, where Turing worked (third window from the end).


Turing's office.

Comments

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. Nice photos. Wish I could think of something more articulate to say, but I'm exhausted.

[tree_and_leaf]

As various people have said to me recently, get some rest!

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Thanks. ;-)

I did manage to get some, and should be able to get more tonight.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I do wonder if the documents, taken off in sacks to an industrial incinerator
Now you're making me suspicious...

[tree_and_leaf]

Though one might expect that had it been so, either (a) we'd have a computer industry or (b) HM Government would have computer systems that actually worked, so maybe they burned them after all...

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

HM Government would have computer systems that actually worked

HMG (not) having working computer systems aren't down to people (not) understanding computers, but not understanding systems. :-(

[tree_and_leaf]

Alas, you're quite right :(

[thealmondtree.livejournal.com]

Given the ability of HMG to loose things...

I believe it to be the case that it turned out that HMG actually had an enigma machine but it had been forgotten about... Although they did need the code books too.

There's a fascinating play about Alan Turin called Breaking the Code which I think was also made into a television film.

[tree_and_leaf]

True enough. If it turned out that the Holy Grail was actually somewhere in a filing cabinet in Walthamstow, having been filed and forgotten, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised....

[ms-wanderlust.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! I've often thought about visiting Bletchley Park as it's not a million miles from where I live, but have never got round to it. You've inspired me to make that visit.

[tree_and_leaf]

It's definitely worth it! The tickets are a bit pricey, but they're valid all year, which is good, as you can't get round everything and appreciate it on one day.

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

"and reminded me a bit of Hex"

I suspect PTerry's Hex takes a lot from machines like Colossus, and power station control rooms, as the room filling computers of the 60s & 70s were often just big boxes with a few flashing lights.

[tree_and_leaf]

That would make a lot of sense.

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

I went there with the DLS Society a long time ago, before it was properly open to the public. One member lived locally and was involved in the campaign to stop it being demolished. I'm glad they did save it, though it seems they still need a lot more cash to keep it going.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, though they seem to have got some cash from English Heritage to do some work on the house. But it's clearly all very expensive to keep going.

[overconvergent.livejournal.com]

If I hadn't had another engagement I would have come as well; it's a lovely place to visit. Glad to hear all y'all enjoyed it ...